Indicator Leader Formulas

jaredoconnor

jaredoconnor

Peabrain Chub
I’ve been googling, but can’t find a good reference for how to set up an indicator leader. Below is what I have come up with, based on all the random sources that I have found.
  1. 12in 20lb Chameleon
  2. 10in 15lb Chameleon
  3. 8in 12lb Chameleon
  4. 6in 10lb Ultragreen
  5. Bobber stop
  6. 10ft 0x Powerflex
  7. Swivel
  8. 2ft 3x Fluoroflex
  9. Fly
  10. 2ft 5x Fluoroflex
  11. Fly
Question time…
  1. What should I change?
  2. What is the purpose of the swivel?
  3. Isn’t 10ft of 0x a nightmare to cast? Many formulas go much lighter, which seems like madness.
 
It has been discussed previously on this site.

Here is one of the threads that might help:

Deep water indicator technique (mine)

I didn’t want to hijack another thread… so here goes. I was asked (not the first time, and not tooting my own horn) about what my deep-water indicator set up was, and I will share what I do and how I do it. There has been some other posts that cover similar methods. So, first I tie my own...
pnwflyfishing.com pnwflyfishing.com

I am sure there are more here...
 
Wow @jaredoconnor , that seems like a ton of work!

At least more than I've ever been willing to put into it.

Assuming you're talking rivers....

Here's mine: ~2' 20lb, ~5' 15lb (this is where the bobber always goes), med or lg tippet ring, however long of 3x or 4x fluoro you need, drop whatever off that in either 4x or 5x.

I always use the small airlock foam bobbers if I can get away with it (they'll hold up a surprising amount of weight though), otherwise it's the med Oros (red/white of course....cause it's a bobber & makes me laugh when I fish it).

Nice thing here (besides simplicity) is that if I have to switch over to dries, I just use that 3 step leader and it works great. Never any turnover issues on my end.
 
Here is my usual. 12" 20#, 10' 10# UG to ring. 12" 6# to first fly, 2' 6 or 4# to next fly. Peg is drilled, easy to add 10#. Or lengthen tippet.
20230825_111715[1].jpg
 
clarkman said:
Wow @jaredoconnor , that seems like a ton of work!

At least more than I've ever been willing to put into it.

Assuming you're talking rivers....

Here's mine: ~2' 20lb, ~5' 15lb (this is where the bobber always goes), med or lg tippet ring, however long of 3x or 4x fluoro you need, drop whatever off that in either 4x or 5x.

I always use the small airlock foam bobbers if I can get away with it (they'll hold up a surprising amount of weight though), otherwise it's the med Oros (red/white of course....cause it's a bobber & makes me laugh when I fish it).

Nice thing here (besides simplicity) is that if I have to switch over to dries, I just use that 3 step leader and it works great. Never any turnover issues on my end.
Click to expand...

I’m talking about lakes. This is the lake forum. 🤪
 
jaredoconnor said:
I’m talking about lakes. This is the lake forum. 🤪
Click to expand...
Well duh....guess I can't read. 😆

Besides, it was in the "New Posts" sub for me!

No wonder it's so complicated....no wonder I stay away from lakes. 😆
 
jaredoconnor said:
Does the 20lb to 10lb junction hinge?

Do you use rings, instead of swivels, for any particular reason?
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No, it casts fine, no tangles, lays out. We have wind often, and I think a 8# main section just tangled too much and didn't go where I wanted it to. Especially casting cross wind. I'm in that camp that I've seen fish take my swivel way to often, rings don't draw strikes.
Hopefully @Irafly will chime in. I stored a lot after taking to him but have not had a lot of chance to use most of it. Except for his, "you really don't have to cast that far when indicator fishing". I'm working on that part.
By the way, I saw him euro nymph up a ton of fish in the river using his kinked up mangled indictor leader from the lake. He's fishy.
 
Following because I’ve always just used level fluoro—like 2.5-40lb depending. Haven’t fished indicators much, but it doesn’t seem to take much to cast and turn one over 20-30’ and let it sink. More recently I’ve been tight-lining lakes with 5x.

I’m pretty ignorant when it comes to indicator fishing—especially in lakes, and I’m curious to know what the experts like the captain of chiromomids, that baron of balanced leaches, the indomitable instructor of indicators, @Irafly use.
 
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Manufactured 7 1/2' tapered leader to 3X, 2 feet of P-line (flour) .007, 2 1/2 feet of Climax (flour) .007. Slide one fly above blood knot that connects to tippet lengths together and the lead fly at the business end. The more knots tied, the more debris that I haul in! Two weighted bugs do a pretty good job of straightening things out and presenting the meal to Mr. and Mrs. Trout.
 
Simple leaders are good down to 20’ or so. Maxima UG is cheap and strong. I use a short butt section of 12 or 15 lb UG then a long section of 6 or 8lb UG to reach depth. Then 2-3’ of 2 or 3x fluoro to the first fly and 18-24” additional fluoro to a second fly. Slip indicators are a must and tungsten beads are great. I don’t mess with swivels or rings.

This setup casts well on a 9’ 4 or 5 weight rod, which is what I use 90% of the time.
 
troutpocket said:
Simple leaders are good down to 20’ or so. Maxima UG is cheap and strong. I use a short butt section of 12 or 15 lb UG then a long section of 6 or 8lb UG to reach depth. Then 2-3’ of 2 or 3x fluoro to the first fly and 18-24” additional fluoro to a second fly. Slip indicators are a must and tungsten beads are great. I don’t mess with swivels or rings.

This setup casts well on a 9’ 4 or 5 weight rod, which is what I use 90% of the time.
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I do this except I use lower cost fluorocarbon leader material (from the hardware store - Seaguar Blue/Berkely Vanish) instead of Maxima to run to the 3x tippet. I don't know if it makes a difference, but it gives me more confidence believing that fluorocarbon sinks better than mono....
 
5’ floating polyleader to fluoro/mono (SA Absolute for me) of one diameter to your first fly. No tapered leaders, not a bunch of knot junctions, and cuts through water like butter.

Polyleader helps turn over indicator rigs but some rod/line combos I go without. Casts just fine.
 
Depends how deep you are fishing.
If fishing just 10-12’, I just run a straight shot of fluorocarbon and be done with it. Flies with beads give it enough weight to turn over the leader. No way I’m tying up a a bunch of sections to achieve some semblance of a tapered leader to fish those depths.
SF
 
Stonedfish said:
Depends how deep you are fishing.
If fishing just 10-12’, I just run a straight shot of fluorocarbon and be done with it. Flies with beads give it enough weight to turn over the leader. No way I’m tying up a a bunch of sections to achieve some semblance of a tapered leader to fish those depths.
SF
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What about 20ft? Wikipedia says the lakes I intended to fish have a median depth of 20ft (max of 30ft and 50ft), so I figure a 20ft rig should be a good start.
 
jaredoconnor said:
What about 20ft? Wikipedia says the lakes I intended to fish have a median depth of 20ft (max of 30ft and 50ft), so I figure a 20ft rig should be a good start.
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On the deep side of the lake I add another section of 10#, or more tippet, so that my indicator is somewhere near the end of my fly line. Read the deepwater thread about casting those deep rigs.
I do better on the deep side with the type 6.
 
@jaredoconnor do you have a finder yet for your tube? The median depth of the lake isn’t really useful but knowing the depth at your location certainly is. A 20’ leader is great for fishing water at least 12’ deep and down to around 21-22’. But that all depends on where the fish are.
 
jaredoconnor said:
What about 20ft? Wikipedia says the lakes I intended to fish have a median depth of 20ft (max of 30ft and 50ft), so I figure a 20ft rig should be a good start.
Click to expand...

I can still fish a straight shot at 20’. My cast won’t be pretty, but hell I’m indicator fishing and it isn’t like I need to bomb out 80’ casts.
I also fish out of a raft, so standing up certainly helps with the casting of a long leader.
Many times you can fish your indicator fairly close to your craft and catch plenty of fish.

Out of a tube, you can still fish an indicator without even casting if you want to assuming you aren’t anchored. Once you twitch or retrieve your indicator back to you, just leave it in the water, use your fins to kick back away from it while feeding line out.
SF
 
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